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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. I 



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^ UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. ! 



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WIITBR OF THE HEART, 



k\w Othe[| Poems, 



ZAVAER WILMSHURST. 



" Medio lie font e ieporitm^ 
Surgit aniari aiiiiuid^ quod in i/isis floribic.s angat..'''' — 

LuCRETirs: ~ 

/^ 



NEW YORK : 

DODD & MEAD, PUBLISHERS, 

762 BROADWAY. 
18 7 4. 






T6 33 ^^ 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1874, 

BY ZAVARR WILMSHURST, 

in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, 



John J. Caulon, Pkintfr, 47 Liberty St., N. Y. 



Is KESl'ECTFULLV INSCRIISED TO THE ChIEF OK A.MERICAN BaRDS, 

HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW, 

•HE MEI.OUV OF WHOSE VERSE AND THE REAUTY OK WHOSE THOUGHTS 
ARE A SOURCE OF PL'RE DELIGHT AND NOBLE INSPIRATION 

to all who speak or understand the 
En(;lish Language. 



CONTENTS 



The WiN'iER OF the Heart 7 

Eve ; or, the Breakers' Sport, .... 21 

La Prima Donna, 31 

Heaven's Darling, . . . . . . . 83 

Love's Scorn, .... . . 3o 

The Lakelet, 87 

The Heari's Defiance, .... .40 

The Budding Coquette, 42 

The Oak, . * 44 

Love's Horror ........ 46 

Old 49 

I Loved Thee Once, . . ... 58 

Eternal Sea, . . 55 

The Wild Rose, 58 

The American Mother, 61 

The Wood Nymi-h, 64 

Sweet Death 66 

Home Welcome, 67 

Love's Solace, .69 

The Hero's Sacrifice, 71 

Twilight, 73 

Thy Type (Sonnet), 74 

The Pirate's DARLiN(is 75 

L()ve-Hauntp:d, 77 



vi. CONTENTS. 

PAUE 

Love-Scathed, 78 

The Rosebud of the Heath, .... 80 

Double Faith, .82 

The Dusky Beauty, 84 

The Food of Love, 86 

Wayward Lee, 87 

Love and Wine 89 

The Star (Serenade) 91 

The Violet, 92 

Bold Questions, 93 

Love's Infatuation, 94 

Left, . .95 

Love's E.kchange, 96 

The Oread, ... . . 97 



THE WINTER OF THE HEART. 

TO THE SUN. 

" Me, nee feniina, nee piier 
Jam, nee spes animi eredula nuitui. 
Nee eertare juvat mero ; 
Nee vineire novis tempora floril)us." — Hok. 

y (]OME to thy brightness of rising, 
-^ Thou god of this morning of Spring, 
While the clouds are with pennons disguising 

Thy steps, O majestical king I 
I come while thy brightness is lowly, 

Long ere its intolerant noon, 
AVhile the heat of thy gold wings spreads 
slowly, 

To ask a heart coveted boon. 

Three weeks or four hardly have fleeted 

Since all was most desolate here. 
And old mother Earth was o'ersheeted 

With snow, like a maid on her bier : 
In the grove not a carol was chaunted. 

But keen blasts hoarse elegies sung. 
By the birds were the branches unhaunted. 

Where long-fingered icicles clung. 



8 THE WINTER OF THE HEART. 

'V\w I'acH of tlie sky was o'er-leacli'iied 

And dull as the arch of a.rtcimb ; 
Thy children, the rays, were half deadened 

As if thou wert wedded to gloom : 
The world looked grim, spectral and hoary,. 

And Death seemed its tyrant and king, 
When bursting thy chamber in glory, 

We hailed thee, — the bridegroom of Spring. 

An exquisite miracle sweeping- 
Earth's shroud, like a vision, away. 

Woke Spring from her long deathly slee^nng, 
And clad her in bridal array : 

She met thee with veil and adorning 
Of blue and faint stars and dim moon, 

\Vhich faded, like ghosts, from the morning 
x\s the birds crowed and warbled their tune- 

The fringe of her veil was disordered 
With clouds set on fire by thy liglit ; 

Her emerald skirt was embroidered 

With flowers and the dew gems of night : 



THE WINTER OF THE HEART 9 

A music betokened lier gladness, 
A sweetness was spread b}^ lier bloom, 

Whicli cnred with its balm even madness 
And tlie death -marked repriinc^d from their 
doom. 

An Eden of beauty is started 

As fresh as a miracle' s birth, 
As though the deep zenith had parted 

To let down the heavens to earth. : 
The blue dyes are angels' eyes beaming ; 

Each leaf clotlies the soul of an elf : 
All live and grow young from thy streaming 

Of light and of love — save myself. 

I make not rash Phaethon's prayer 

For the glory of mounting tliy place. 
For the diamond mines or a layer 

Of the gold that envisors thy face ; 
Yet I who am twin to hard weather. 

And wore out the sharpness of strife, 
With Nature should enter together 

This world-wide unfolding of life. 



10 THE WINTER OF THE HEART. 

Care deeply mj forehead has wi'iukled 

As ivory smooth in luy prime ; 
With silver my hair is besprinkh-d 

By the liberal fingers of Time ; 
Tlie spring and the force of m}' being 

Are cramped by their prison' s decay ; 
It rusts out my vigor for fleeing 

AVhile the bars v^ear so slowl}' away. 

Tliese marks do not favor the Graces, 

Nor give me their elegant air, 
But never have honester traces 

Been left by too diligent care : 
They show that I faced the fierce rattle, 

And Avooed the tumultuous brunt 
With the bi-ave and the strong in life's battle 

Whom duty detailed to the front. 

They show that I scorned any slighting 
Of the work in my duty set down ; 

Tliat conquest was won by hard fighting 
And the cross was endured for the crown : 



THE WINTER OF THE HEART. 11 

I ask not tlic magic renioval 

Of tlie scars of my toil and my love 

That claim the Great Captain's approval.— 
A,veteran's lionor above. 

I know they will deepen and cluster 

With the beat of mortality's breath. 
Till swept in the dust at the muster. 

The final grand muster of Death, 
As the soul through his portals escaping. 

This frame to corruption bequeathes 
And takes on the glorious shaping 

Of the love and the truth tliat it breathes. 

But dark in my spirit declining 

The shadows of hopelessness hu'k. 
And born of Disgust and Repining, 

The vulture Decay is at work : 
They blight \\\^ monr s loveliness springing 

To the light and the glow of thy kiss — 
Oh, fright the foul crew into winging 

Their way to Night's deepest abyss I 



12 THE WINTER OF THE HEART 

The gall my heart burst on beholding 

The gods of my friendshij) decline, 
For wealth and its tinsel enfolding, 

The grandeur of being divine, — • 

Of standing for truth, like the mountain 

No clouds can dissever from day,— 
Embitters my life at its fountain, 

And turns all my soul into clay. 

They made a most miserly barter 

To go from the weak to the strong : 
I have not a claim as a martyr, 

But a demon-like hatred of wrong. 
And love for the good and the kindly. 

Which, spurning all limit and check 
And worshipping darlings too blindly, 

Has rendered my being a wreck. 

The dear ones too closely were clinging. 

My hands were too full and my heart 
An anguish too keenly was wringing. 

To practice the tactics of art : 



THE WINTER OF THE HEART 13 

Who tights witli eacli })assionate feeling 

His h)ve and his liate can eni'oll 
Is wounded too sorely for healing 

In th<' tenderest depths of his soul : 

Like dust are its treasures all scattered, 

Its friendships with mirage betrayed ; 
Its idols of love are all shattered, 

Tiu^ir shrines all so desolate laid 
That the blankness of bareness they offer 

To the look and the search of despair. 
As freezes the late rifled coffer 

The miser in petrified stare. 

AVliy should I rehearse the sad sequel, — 

AYhy trace where emotion was whirled, 
In contest so dread and unequal 

Of the fond heart against the false world \ 
For the gems of the heart which had wrested 

My duty wellnigh from my God, 
By the fire of adversity tested. 

Proved base as the commonest clod. 



14 THE WINTER OF THE HEART 

The beaiity from squalor exalted, 

By loving devotion and care, 
'Gainst the chains of my worship revolted 

And wedded a vile millionaire : 
The friend I delighted to cherish, 

Whom life and life' s comforts I gave. 
Left me in a prison to perish, 

And plotted to make it my grave. 

Yet deem liot, O Snn, my great sorrow 

So base of descent and of soul 
As being of creatures to borrow 

That crawl tlirough theii- life like a mole 
AVe fall into eii'ors of vision. 

While the spirit in clay is encased. 
But look on our dreams with derision 

In the sun-blight of experience placed. 

The loving and gentle and truthful 

Are the source of my grieving and pain ; 

T ask if the Heavens are ruthful 

That see them snared, toitured and slain 



THE WINTER OF THE HEART. 15 

To the pure even death is salvation 
That shnts ont jiollntion and hate, 

The mininii" of constant temptation 
And the force of the evil and great. 

Oh, tell me of beings of sweetness, 

First chaste as the moon' s kiss on snow, 
Who yielding to love' s dear repleteness, 

Gave bliss more than angels bestow, — 
Who fought against Sin in a fever 

That burned up whole years in a day, 
AVhile she made their goodness her lever, . 

Their virtues a trap for her i)rey, — 

How treachery these (more devoted, 

More loving than seraphs) could whelm 
In the gulf of perdition unnoted 

Of Infinite Love at the helm : — 
For the mystery poisons existence, 

Like upas in paradise grown. 
And makes even Honor' s persistence 

Seem idle as dreams that are flown. 



16 THE WINTER OF THE HEART 

Was tlie peiiii of all women not Alice, 

Whose virtue by kindliness won, 
And melted the hardness of malice 

As icicles weep to the snn ? 
Heaven's beauty was Heaven s commission 

To bless and to purify all, 
Yet the want of cold selfish susx)icion 

Was the cause of her ruin and fall. 

Far distant, when Sin's creeping blackness 

Stole on her and yawned to engulf. 
And angels in envy showed slackness 

That left her a prey to the wolf, 
I learned not her fate till the waters 

Forever had closed o'er her head. 
And the sweetest of earth's loving daughters 

To Death's dark asylum had fied. 

The earthquake I felt on receiving 
The death of the beauty of worth, 

Arrested the pulse of believing 
In the justice of Heaven and earth. 



THE WINTER OF THE HEART. 17 

And, ghost-like, I linger unable 
The grave of my hox)es to forsake, 

And liaiiQt it witli purpose unstable, 
I neither accomplish nor break. 

Yes, Spring has resumed her full glory 

And Beauty her myriad thrones. 
And birds fill the skies with their story. 

And the brook makes a harp of its stones ; 
With fairy-like rainbows the flowers 

The soul of life' s sweetness impart. 
Yet I am all dead to thy powers. 

For winter is still at my heart. 

It sleeps on my heart with oppression, 

Like snow on the mountainous spire, 
Maintaining eternal possession 

Right under the flood of thy fire : 
It shames thee and mocks all reliance 

On the might that has built up thy fame ; 
Then melt me this icy defiance 

With the magic that lives in thy flame. 



18 THE WINTER OE THE HEART. 

Let springtide that blossoms abundance 

And buds o'er jon age-withered tree, 
Spare some of tliis vital redundance, 

A spark of this freshness for me ; 
Let the spell of its breathing restore me 

The faith and illusion of youth 
Which placed Bliss and Beauty before me 

As brides of the Future and Truth. 

Great Sun, let me go as thou goest, 

When Eve falls in tears from the stars, 
And melted to softness thou ilowest 

In gold through the AVest's ruddy bars : 
Like thee, in my set, I would waken 

Tlie Past with her tenderest hues 
As love a sere grave long forsaken 

With weeping and flowers renews. 

From thee I would part with devotio)] 

As god of the seasons below ; 
From Earth with that hallowed emotion 

A son for a mother should show ; 



THE WINTER OF THE HEART 19 

From all of lier children with feeling 
In the wreck of my spirit still warm, 

And rise to my Maker revealing 
A haven eternal fi'om stoi'm. 



E V E ; 

OR, 

The Breaker^^' Sport. 



Alas, poor world, what treasure hast thou lost !" 

— Shakespeare. 



FOR miles I hear tlie breakers' roar 
Before I reacli the rocky shore 
To witness their wild sport, 
Their tossing rage, thcnr ceaseless shout, 
Their foaming charge, their shattered rout, 
Succeeding each report 
Of thunder. 

My heart interprets their deep tone 
And sinks in terror at the moan 

Still floating from afar : 
It seems to say : '' We battle here 
Against the one you hold most dear 
Who in the ruthless war 
Goes imder.'' 

2* 



22 EVE; OR, 

What friend have I upon the sea, 
Who is so near, so dear to nie 

That I should sink or sigh % 
I hasten on yet fear to reach 
Tlie stretch and riot of the beach 

Forever sounding nigh 
And nigher. 

At last it breaks upon my sight 
In all its fierce and toiling might, 

That foaming, dancing sea ; 
Like madmen raging are the waves. 
As though sea-serpents hid in caves, 

Rocked it eternall}^ 
Still higher. 

Why should this billowing, seething w^ar 
Which seems the solid clifi" to jar 

Still shake my soul with fear ? 
Has it not battered thus in vain 
All day and night, in shine and rain. 

Some hundred million years 
Already. 



THE BREAKERS' SPORT. 23 

How idle is the white-wreathed rage 
Like lion ramping in a cage, 

The gazers sport and jest ! 
Upon this everlasting rock, 
The crested fury I can mock 

And in defiance rest 
Heart-steady. 

Still rises hoarse, as from a grave, 
Or spirit sunk too far to save 

Terror I cannot still : 
Do all the voices of the dead, 
Who in the deep have made their bed, 

The air with murmurs fill 
So dreary^ 

But what is that the breakers toss, 
Like some fair flower torn with its moss 

From a bright streamlet' s side \ 
From wave to rock dashed to and fro, 
Witli many a hard and bruising blow, 

It rocks upon the tide 
Ne'er weary. 



24 EVE; OR, 

Great God ! it is a human form, 
A victim of the ocean stoni], 

Thus racked upon the brine ! 
As I — thrilled through — intently mark 
Its slender limbs, so white and stark, 

I tremble to divine 
The story. 

A woman's shape I cannot doubt 

The yeasty waves thus spurn and flout, 

But never, even in dreams. 
Deemed I that head, save Eve's, could wear 
Such length and wealth of golden hair 

As round that body streams 
Like glory. 

I dart, like lightning, down the crag, 
And from the boiling waters drag, 

Tlieir unresisting prey ; 
I bear her from the bufi'ets free 
The clasping surge and saucy glee 

Which make such heartless play 
With beauty. 



THE BREAKERS' SPORT. 25 

All doubt is gone, for there slie lies, 
AVitli ashy cheek and soulless eyes. 

Through which Death gazes cold : 
Each long, salt, languid, yellow tress 
Her listless, lavish loveliness 

Doth weepingiy enfold 
In duty. 

Still round her neck with serpent turn 
Two golden chains entwine and burn 

The moveless, matchless snow, 
And still between the orb-crowned breasts, 
My locket-guarded semblance rests 

And makes keen sorrow's blow 
Eternal. 

I cannot sigh — I cannot weep — 
I cannot curse the whelming deep 

Or blind impassive fate : 
But view the earth as one vast grave, 
The Sun as Fire' s relentless slave 

That sleeps at night with mate 
Infernal. 



26 EVE; OR, 

I feel my life of life depart 

That Death may kill within my heart 

Joys ere they bud or blow : 
Oh, what a heaven is here to me 
Crushed into hopeless misery 

Like angel cast below 
Forever ! 

Tliat spirits of the greatest power 

Are withered with the the tenderest flower 

Which dies in their despite — 
That those less eaithly sufl'er woise 
Is still the old Promethean curse 

Through which we win God's light 
Or never. 



•^ ^ 



THE BREAKERS' SPORT. 27 

Where Eve sleeps 'neatli the green-clad turf 
The far-off echo of the surf 

Calls for its prey again, 
But murmuring sea and wild birds' song 
Her dream of nothingness prolong 

And worlds might shout in vain 
To wake her. 

The flowers that round her grave have birth 
Are all that link me to the earth, — 

For, breathing still her breath, 
My fainting spirit they revive 
With sweetness ever hers alive 

Which cannot even in death 
Forsake her. 

But still the longing burns in me 
To solve the strangest mystery 

That can the' heart appall ; 
That Nature, Fate, or what you will, 
Perfection' s dream should thus fulfil, 

And then extinguish all 
It cherished. 



28 EVE; OR, 

Wlieii every thoiiglit was pure in truth, 
And every feeling fresh in youtli, 

And all with love aglow — 
When every charm was at its height, 
And every beauty sweet as bright, 

Undimmed by care or woe, 
She perished. 

Oil, wliy was earth of Eve bereft 
Wliich scarcely liath an angel left 

To open Heaven' s door \ 
Just as the boon began to bless 
Why snatch away such loveliness ? 

Can Heaven rob the poor 
So meanly \ 

Yet came not Eve to me in vain 
To give such glimpses of the reign 

Of bliss the perfect own : 
Perchance, exalted by her love. 
My soul may follow hers above. 

Now seated near God's throne 
Serenely. 



THE BREAKERS' SPORT. 29 

Still I hold Nature as deceit 
For making life at first so sweet, 

To deadly misery run : 
Her Ocean is a treacherous friend, 
Her Earth a grave from end to end. 

Devouring every son, 
Like Saturn. 

Thanks for the world of soul and mind 
Decay and Death can never find 

But only free from clod — 
For love to wisdom agonized — 
For life that Eve immortalized 

Of which is found in God 
The pattern. 



LA PRIMA DONNA. 

r I ^ HE lark, from low and leafy throng, 
-L That smgs to Heaven' s throne, 
And thee we know embodied song 

Ere either trills a tone : 
Already silent music tills 

Thine every grace and wile, 
And all the music it distills 

Is garnered in thy smile. 

What gives day's glory to thine eyes, 

AVhich are as dark as night ? 
What makes tliem dart like Death's surprise 

Yet thrill as Life's delight 'i 
Why is Joy's self thy willing slave 

And Pensiveness as well, 
Transported both upon the wave 

Of thy melodious spell ^ 

31 



32 LA PRIMA DONNA. 

How coined that world of melody 

In beauty small as sweet % 
What biings all friends of harmony 

To worship at thy feet '{ 
Y\\ tell thee where the secret lies 

Of all tliou canst and art : 
'Tis this : thy soul is in thine eyes, 

Thv music in thy heart. 



IIEA\ EN^S DARLING. 

WHAT sweeter is than infancy, 
That never lives to die 
A donble death but just to be 
An heii' to bliss on high t 
Oh, do not weep, as if the rod 

Of Judgment struck thee — do not weep, 
Fond, faithless mother ! 
Though soft and fair thy breast 
The bosom of the Son of God 
Is yet a sweeter rest — 

There, there thy iamb in downy sleep 
Is cherished by another. 

The joys he brought can never die 

To memory and love 
No more tlian clouds in yonder sky 

Can quench the stars above : 

33 



34 HE A VEN'S DARLING 

To tell of pleasures innocent 

To lure thee from this earthly sphere, 
Thy boy was given : 
Lest thou shouldst err (oh, sweet excess 

Of love !) himself before thee went ; 
I marked his cherub loveliness, — 
I saw he was a stranger here, — 

I knew his home was Heaven I 



LOA^E^S SCORN. 

rriHOU neither know'st nor canst conceive 
-^ The passion thou hast slighted, 
Nor can thy trilling mind believe 

The heart which thou hast blighted : 
Although no hope my soul may bless 

And love in vain must languish, 
Rather than own thine emptiness, 

I still would hug my anguish. 



'Tis great to love as I have loved. 

Proud am I who have done it ; 
If feeling could thy heart have moved, 

I know I should have won it : 
Nor would I rest, as others may. 

With less than I have given ; 
I would not creep albeit my way 

Led through the gates of Heaven. 

35 



36 LOVE'S SCORN. 

Go ! love a soul with less of love 

And tenderness in loving ! 
Go ! seek a heart more apt to prove 

Its lightness by its roving ! 
Go ! wed a mate with feelings warm 

Mere sons of cla}^ inherit, 
Content to clasp thine earthly form 

And think it hath thy spirit I 

Ah ! well thou didst to shut thy heart 

Against my sad entreating, 
Lest love like mine to life should start 

An echo to its beating ; 
Ambition then or hate or pelf 

Our being could not sever ; 
I would have stolen thee from thyself 

And kept thee, too, forever. 



THE LAKELE1\ 

TT soothes to watch the lakelet sleep 

-^ 111 lucid purity 

And show the treasures of its deep 

As free as infancy, — 
To mark its finny armies pass, 
Like floating hues in liquid glass. 

The water's chivalry 

In nature's panoply, — 
With gold and silver sheatlied in sheen, 
Entire scale armor, red, blue, green, — 
They muster, charge, wheel, gleam in pride, 
And smooth as flowing music glide, — 
The life, the grace, the beaut}- of the tide. 

Beneath a living canopy 

I revel in the scene 
Where nature is the luxury 

And sun-crowned Summer queen : 
Deep in the tide a heaven is spread, 
The twin of that which overhead 

3 



38 THE LAKELET. 

Stretches eternally 

Through blue inlinity : — 
Like Eden' s Eve, whose guileless look 
Clung to her image in the brook, 
Heaven gazes on its mirrored face 
Drowned in the lakelet' s fluid space, 
With fleecy clouds that pass in stately chase. 



An even pebbly path engirds 

Three-quarters of the lake. 
But where the rills and flitting birds 

Their liquid music make, 
An emerald and damasked bank 
Droops o'er the wave and sedges rank : 
A gilded w^ater snake 
Has ventured from the brake 
Among the lily sisterhood 
Whose saint-like beauty crowns the flood 
Their sweetness, chaste as virgin snow 
Or souls made white and pure by woe, 
Hallows this nook of paradise below. 



THE LAKELET 39 

It is not day but night alone 

That makes this spot divine, 

For then a magic veil is thrown 
O' er every hue and line, 

To shadow forms of God-like grace. 

The mystic spirits of the place. 

Who with the fires combine, 

Which through Mght' s vastness shine 

And on the lakelet gaze and burn, — 

To make it glory' s book and urn : 

For in each drop to silver run, 

Is told the story of a sun, 

Of heaven's thick-clustering millions only 
one. 



THE HEARTS DEFIANCE. 

ALONE am I — alone ! alone ! 
In this wide world so single, 
No heart dare echo to mine own, 

No sonl with mine dare mingle ; 
For I am all alone — bereft 

Of joy, of hope, of Heaven ; 
Alone with Fate relentless left — 
Alone to madness driven. 

Whv make that sonl all tenderness 

«/ 

The gods to care deliver 'i 
For gifts that rather cnrse than bless 

Why shonld we thank the giver? 
My life hath been a life of woe, 

My kindness my nndoing ; 
If after life no better show 

It is not w^orth the wooing. 

40 



THE HEARrS DEFIANCE. 41 

Not Nature's self but Destiny 

Hath mixed tliis bitter leaven, 
For one there was who might for me 

Have made this earth a heaven. 
Might 'i no I she did ! till fate bore down, 

I lived in her caresses, 
Then — worse than all — she crushed a crown 

Of thorns on my distresses. 

Still will I laugh as I have laughed, 

With mirth as wild and cheerless ; 
Still w^elcome each successive shaft 

With breast as bare and fearless ; 
Still to the last will hold my own 

As rock against the breaker. 
And prove myself with my last groan 

The image of my Maker. 



THE BUDDING COQUETTE. 

TP thou hadst seen an infant creep 
-^ All carelessly along 
An ocean cliff and idly peep 

Over its very brink, 

(Too innocent to think 
Of danger 3^et, but curious to know 

Who sang that endless song, 
And what its murmurs lull'd below,) 

Thou wouldst, in such a witless elf, 

Have seen an image of thyself. 

Upon the precipice of life 

Thou standest like a child, 

And prattlest there of "husband,'' — 
'^wife" — 
As if terms such as they 
Were made, like toys, for play, 

42 



THE BUDDING COQUETTE. 43 

And meant not life or death or destiny ! 
All recklessly and wild, 

As lightning glances, does thine eye 
Enkindle flames in many a heart. 
When even thou, with all th}^ art. 

But one canst quench. Oh, then forbear 

A needless triumph o'er despair I 



THE OAK. 

MAEK yonder oak witii mighty anus 
stretched high 
As if they would uplift the lowering sky, 
Shaking a hundred hands in every blast 
At spirits in their cloud cars riding past ! 
With what magnificent Titanic grace 
It looks the boundless heavens in the face 
And nods its towering head toward the earth 
As if it had been crowned its king at birth. 

Of many a gnarled swell and knotted limb 
It makes an organ chanting Nature's hymn, 
And in her shrillest and her deepest chords 
Sings with expressiveness too deep for words 
Of generations that have come and gone 
Like shadow^s of its branches on the lawn, — 
Of generations that shall pass away 
Ere bow^s its stately stature to decay. 

44 



THE OAK, 45 

Dotli not its song tlie ages story tell, 
Talk to thy heart and till its inmost cell 
With Natni-e's freshness drained by potent 

roots 
From lier deep breast into its tender shoots 
Till all its leaflets glimmer in their sheen 
And dance like fairy myriads on the green \ 
Drink, sonl ! the life, the spirit and design 
Of yonder oak, for they are wisdom' s wine. 



Believe that giant hath its sonl and speech. 
Its lesson of the Inflnite to teach. 
Stands it not there as God' s embodied thought 
Breatliing the wisdom wliich its grandeur 

wrought, 
Whispering the secrets which the zephyrs 

steal, 
Or groaning the arcana thunders peal, — 
Discoursing, like a sage and prophet too, 
Of all Omnipotence hath done and yet shall 

do? 

3* 



LOVERS HORROR. 

A HORROR to love I know well, 
-^ -^ Too terrible madness to hate, 
I am fearful its grimness to tell, 
For it bears siicli resemblence to Hell, 

You might think I escaped thro' its gate. 

Have you loved ^ have you loved with the 
might 
Of your heart and your soul and your 
strength, 
Till the charmer grew dearer than sight 
Than the dawning of heavenly light 

Than the God of your being at length — 

Till the glimpsing of lier you adored 
Till the smiles she sportively cast — 

Till the music she lavishly poured — 

Till the honey her lips ever stored 
Robbed you of your reason at last 'i 

46 



LOVE'S HORROR. 47 

And as soon as your reason was gone, 

And your soul clung to life by its love, 
To be told that your idol was stone- 
That her heart to another had flown, 
As readily changed as her glove. 

To upbraid her in vain with her fault. 
Being cursed with a thousand yourself. 

Or to scorn to begin the assault ; 

'And be crushed by what ought to exalt, 
For the want of contemptible pelf. 

To acknowledge her right and allow 
That to wed with a beggar were guilt 

Which would deepen the curse of the vow 

'Tis her duty to sacrifice now 

Though the blood of your spirit be spilt. 

All is past. She hath fled from your arms, 

Life become a detestable thing— 
And you dare not remember her charms 
Which your enemy' s bosom now warms, 
Where you rather a viper would cling ! 



•48 LOVE'S HORROR. 

But in spite of yourself you may dream — 

Oh horror! 'tis she I happy pair ! 
See ! her snowy arms beauteously gleam — 
Hark ! her kisses ! my dagger ! ha ! scream 
As I drag you from him by the hair ! 

'J\) be cast by wild jealousy' s force 
In a murderer's furious part ; — 
To be seized at the sight of her corse 
With the madness of guilty remorse 
And bury the steel in youi- heart. 

To wake with a gasj) and a thrill, 

With midnight and terror oppressed — 
To vow by the Heaven' s sw^eet will, 
That had kept you from l)l()od honor still, 
In the peace of forgiveness to rest. 



OLD. 

nv /TY soul has bowed at Beauty's shrine 
-^^-^ Before a miracle of fairness, 
Who seemed than God scarce less divine, 

In delicate exalted rareness : 
I melted like the mountain stream, 

Which thaws in springtide's glowing 
brightness, 
Beneath her blue ey(n^' tender beam 

And touch of downy genth' lightness : 
But then I still was very young, 
And half my ecstasy was wrung. 
By force of passionate excess 
From Fancy's dream of loveliness. 

As time passed on my ardor cooled 

And Reason took her rightful station 

To gently hint I had been fooled 
By amorous imagination : 

49 



50 OLD. 

The idol I had placed aloft 

And worshipped with fond melancholy 
Taught lae that beauty proves two oft 

The mask of heartlessness and folly ; 
For ere the gilding wore away 
I found it only common clay. 
Inspired by fashion, rank and dress 
And love of its own shapeliness. 



But I will show you beauty tiue 

That grows in age' s wear and shading, 
More lovely to the heart and view, 

Like angel into heaven fading : 
Behold deep in the vale of tears 

Where shadows of the grave are frowning, 
A form unbent by ninety years 

Grand as an oak with snowy crowning : 
There is my beauty — woman ne' er 
To Reason's sight looked half so fair 
As he who four score years and ten 
Has lived to bless his fellow men. 



OLD. 61 

The fiiiTowed face, the liead of snow, 

The gracious glance, tlie stately motion, 
The majesty upon his brow, 

Command and merit our devotion ; 
For every care- wrought shade and line. 

Each scar of battle and bereavement. 
Is marked by love and thought divine 

That burned in all his life's achievement, 
To succor want, relieve distress, 
With more than woman' s tenderness, 
To cherish virtue, conquer vice. 
And make this earth a paradise. 



Behold in this grand veteran 

Wisdom and truth and honor' s tower ! 
Grow prouder that you are a man 

In whom such goodness may have power 
To wear God' s shape and do his will 

On earth in walk and deeds diurnal 
And after death, in heaven fulfill 

The ministry of Love Eternal. 



52 OLD. 

What charm can witli the wrinkles vie 
Whicli noblest actions sanctify \ 
Or with a beauty grown sublime, 
And lovely in the frost of Time i 



I LOA' ED THEE ONCE. 

I LOVED thee once, and still my love 
Is stronger far than death 
And yet shall find its home above, 

And drinks its angel' s breath 
In kisses sweet as thou canst give, 

As thou to me hast given, 
Nor shall its joys so briefly live, 
But last as long as heaven. 

I loved thee once and thou wast then 

The semblance of my love, 
But thou hast changed thy form again. 

And lost that of the dove ; 
AVliat thou art now I scarce can tell, 

And almost fear to write ; 
Not her I loved and loved so well 

No more than dark is light. 

53 



54 I LOVED THEE ONCE. 

Mj love was blind but now I see 

The living- with the dead, 
Than thon and I, more liappily 

And truly might be wed : 
Tlien let us sunder every tie 

Uniting souls so loth, 
And cease to live the conscious lie 

That makes a lie of both. 



Forgive the error, if thou canst — 

Mine anguish hath been fell, — 
Remember that thy charms entranced 

My reason like a spell : 
The form and wit of her I sought 

But not her heart hast thou : 
What wonder that my soul was caught 

And madly loved till now ! 



ETERNAL SEA. 

"TT^ TERNAL Sea, whose bosom swells 
J-^ With love to yonder Queen of Night 
Whose silver fire so brightly dwells 

Upon thy breast and woos thy might ! 
How far thon spreadst beyond my sight ! 

The starry concave rests on thee, 
Low^ bending from the zenith's height 

Its mighty arch to kiss the sea. 

Whene'er I gaze on thy expanse, 

The fullness of my soul is known, 
I seem to gather in my glance 

A* majesty I make my own : 
I seat my spirit on a throne, 

My sceptre reason I extend, 
To call up thoughts to earth unknown 

Which with my dreams shall ever blend 
55 



56 ETERNAL SEA. 

Dread mysteries thy spells eiilumee, 

But beauty o'er thy bosom strays : 
And in the moon' s pale lightning dance 

Is more of love than vestal gaze, 
Which, wreathed with surf, in brightness 
plays 

To quicken that ethereal loam, 
Embodied once, with purest rays, 

In Venus, daughter of thy foam. 

Oft listening to thy thundering l)eat 

My ear the voice of God has caught 
And as I heard the rush repeat 

Link has with link connection wroiight 
Until chaotic sounds have taught 

The meaning of the surging sea 
And wakened many a lofty thought 

Of what has been and what must be. ^ 

I see thy pathways as they led 

Some thousand million years ago. 

When monsters sported in thy bed. 
Too vast for earth again to know. 



ETERNAL SEA. 57 



And speeding past the ages slow 
To mortal seraphs in the van, 

I see their Edens overgrow 

The long-forgotten i-ace of man. 



I 



THE WILD ROSE. 

HAVE fainted from perfume in gardens 
of roses 

Where the beauties of Flora are crowded 
together, 
And Eden all hues of their vesture discloses, 
Yet I linger around this wild rose in the 
heather. 



It is simple as wild and carelessly nourished 
By the sun and tlie dews and tlie vagabond 
breezes, 
Unnoted by pilgrims, save one, it has 
flourished, 
Yet more than the cultured my fancy it 
pleases. 

68 



THE WILD ROSE. 59 

Oh, tliey may be clad with more richness and 
lustre, 
Their perfume may sink with more ravish- 
ing power. 
But ne' er with their leaflets so lovingly cluster 
And fold round my heart as this lone desert 
flower. 



I joy in the thought that the world has ne- 
glected 
This Queen of the wild and still kept her 
so lonely, 
While the spirit of freshness her sweetness 
attracted 
And treasured so purely for me and me 
only. 

A life may abound with the wealth of sub- 
sistence 
Yet pine in its depth with soul-famishing 
bareness 



60 THE WILD ROSE. 

For the lack of one flower to sweeten existence 
With the fragrance and charm of its deli-" 
cate rareness. 



Before I discovered my exquisite treasure 
My heart was as barren as Winter' s effete- 
ness. 
But now, like the springtide, it bounds with 
the pleasure 
Of love-life and music and blossoming 
sweetness. 



THE AMERICAN MOTHER. 

A MOTHER had an only son, 
^-^ As beautiful as dawn, 
AVhen rosy light hath just begun 

To kiss the dewy lawn, — 
With voice as sweet and musical 

As birds that sing for love. 
And soul as kind and dutiful 

As angels ai-e above. 

He grew in beauty and in strength, 

In courage and in skill. 
And had an arm and soul at lengtli 

To rescue or to kill. 
And when earth' s tyrants came to blast, 

And thunders 'gan to roll, 
Upon her son the mother cast 

A look that read his soul. 

4 



62 THE AMERICAN MOTHER. 

"I know thy heart and whither nisli, 

Those lofty thoughts of thine, 
And wlierefore mounts tliat hanglity bhish, 

And shall my soul repine % 
Go ! I would rather die than part 

With thee, my beautiful, 
Still must I as to me thou art 

To God be dutiful/' 

He hurried to the field and fought 

Until the foemen fled, 
And never till that moment thought 

How fatally he bled : 
But soon his dying form reposed 

Within his mother's arms, 
And soon the solemn coffin closed 

Upon his boyish charms. 

"Oh, gentle Heavens! ye are just, 
And I have naught to blame : 

My treasure I may safely trust 
To Him from whom it came : 



THE AMERICAN MOTHER. 63 

But Still my soul does his pursue, 

And with it almost died : 
Oh, piteous Heaven! take me tool" 

And piteous Heaven complied. 



THE WOOD NYMPH. 

T" LOVE this fragrant nutty copse 

-^ So rich in hues and shade, — 

In vines that climb tlie dwarf tree tops 

And flowers that skirt the glade : 
And dearer still is yonder oak 

Whose l)ranclies sweep tlie sky 
And wind, rain, hail, and thunder' s stroke, 

A thousand years defy. 

For here my nymph supremely reigns 

And makes this oak her throne, 
And hearkens to the wild birds' strains 

That sing her praise alone ; 
For her the brook its chime awakes 

And squirrels play their pranks, 
And for the paradise she makes 

All creatures breathe her thanks. 

64 



THE WOOD NYMPH, 65 

Hither slie comes, my spirit bride ; 

I know when she draws nigh, — 
The whispering leaves do move aside, 

The flowers with envy sigh ; 
The very air woos tenderly, 

Light glows with softer bloom, 
Earth's bosom swells with ecstasy, 

Tlie Heavens nearer come. 

Where waking hopes so fondly please. 

Possession is so sweet 
That moments seem whole centuries 

Of rapture at her feet ; 
Yet somewhat evil seems delight 

That wraps the heart in flame 
And carries bliss to such a height 

As makes the Heavens tame. 



SWEET DEATH. 

PALE as a flower, plucked by grim Death, 
A maiden lay, 
Her bloom and beauty, all but breath, 

Had flown away. 
And left her eyes, large, wide and blue. 

Orbs of pure heaven. 
And to her veins of violet hue, 

Distinctness given ; 
Till the close clinging to each bone. 
Made her almost a skeleton. 

A merry little girl drew nigh 

With silver tray. 
Heaped up with fruit and flowers high 

In disarray, — 
Grapes, apples, peaches, roses, plums. 

In fullest bloom ; 
The fragrance which from ripeness comes 

Suffused the room ; 
The maiden gazed, inhaled and sighed, — 
Murmuring her bliss, and, smiling, died. 



HOME WELCOME. 

WHAT sliall I love as brightest \ beams 
From woman' s angel eyes 'i 
The starry shine, the golden gleams 

That fill the trembling skies ^ 
Stars throb with beauty ; snns are kings 

That sit on glory s throne ; 
From woman's eyes the lightning springs 
That makes all hearts her own. 

Affection's look is worth them all. 

From face that speaks the heart ; 
And I would rather have death's pall 

Wrapped round me now than part 
With Lona's gentle smile and look 

When I world-wearied come,— 
Panting— like hart for water-brook — 

For love and comfort home. 

67 



68 HOME WELCOME. 

The light that rushes to her eyes, 

The exclamation sweet, — 
So full of love and glad surprise, - 

As she bounds to her feet — 
With sudden flush and rosy glee, 

In dimples and on lips, 
Pouting for kisses, — still to me 

All brightness else eclipse. 



LOVE'S SOLACE. 

^TT HEN Care his tlioriiy net-work spreads, 
^ ^ And obstacles, like Hydra's heads, 

Before me throng ; 
When days in toil and sleep lessly 
The nights are spent, I think of thee, 

And I am strong. 

AA^heii blackest seems the frown of Fate 
AYith no asylnm from his hate. 

Except the grave — 
AVhen sinks the heart and terribly 
Blanches the cheek, — I tliink of thee, 

And I am brave. 

When seems the earth but desert plain, 
Where not a flower can bloom again, 

For life is spent ; 
When that and I appear to be 
Made all in vain, — I think of thee 

And I'm content. 

4* 69 



70 LOVE'S SOLACE. 

When preys the vulture on tlie dove,. 
And hearts are broken that I love, 

And God is sad 
The work of His own hands to see 
Perverting life — I think of thee 

And I am glad. 

When wrath hath into fury grown. 
And Reason from her tranquil throne- 
Is madly driven, 
I think of thee — my passions cease 
For love is all the life of peace 
And Tm in Heaven. 



THE HERO'S SACRIFICE. 

"FTPON the battle-field lie lay, 
^-^ His back to eartli, his face to heaven ; 
Though now he was no more than clay, 

His spirit from its temple driven. 
Had left a stamp of glory there, 
Such as the living cannot wear. 

Still sadly on this marble face, 
Death' s sculpture and his master piece, 

The dying thoughts I strive to trace, 
Which thronged his soul at its release, 

For of their instant fleeting here 

Linger the shades of all but fear. 

I know he breathed a prayer for thee, 
My country, as he gave his life, 

Repining at the thought that he 
Had not a thousand for the strife, 

Waged for the land we idolize 

As freest, best beneath the skies. 
71 



72 THE HERO'S SACRIEICE. 

But softer traces on this brow, 



Relenting lines of gentleness. 
To searching eyes as truly show 

The cause of tenderer distress ; 
A husband' s love thrilled Iveenly here 
And mingled with a father' s tear. 

Yet answered he Death' s muster loll 
Calm as the angels round his head 

Waiting to waft his noble soul 
To heaven from his bloody bed ; 

And happy they who die so well 

As he who for his country fell. 



TAVILTCIHT. 

THE twilight comes like a brunette, 
With dusky blush and floating hair, 
And starry eyes that pilot night : 
But in the growing gloom is set, 
A form that rests as soft as air 

While m el tin"' darkness with its light. 



Wli}^ should the twilight bring to me 
A shape as golden as the sun, 

Robed to the waist in wavy rays ( 
The magic of the hour I see 

Which stealing on the heart hath won 
The secret treasured for love's gaze. 

Tt is the office of this hour 

To station every star on high 

And. teach the heart to melt and love ; 
Sweet Peace than Force liatli oft more powei* 

And shadow^s deepest thouglits supply 

Unveiling seas of suns above. 
73 



THY TYPE 



SONNET — TO A. 0. 



rriHE Winter stars are beautiful and wliite^ 
-^ And glitter, keen and cold, in diamond air. 
And shine like icicles of silver there ; 
But thou art not like them, dear, though as 

bright : 
Above the golden equatorial belt, 
A new-born star — not only seen but felt — 
Fresh from the fount divine of love and light — 
With all the softness of an angel' s will. 
With all the warmth of Heaven about it still, 
Peerless as sweet — beams kindly from its 

height 
Not only on the vision but the heart, 
With sweet and pure persuasion to impart 
Beauty to one and to the other love : — 
Such, gentle lady, is thy type above. 

74 



cc 



THE PIRATE'S DARLINGS. 

"T row fragile seems my quiv'nng bark 
-* — *- Upon the mountain motion 
And world-wide howling of the dark 

Exasperated ocean ! 
It leaps like madness ! does it know 
All I hold dearest sleeps below, 
And, like a monster, lifts its roar. 
Hungry and eager to devour ^ 

"A scourge and terror, I have been 

Its harsh and mocking master — 
Have cut my path its waves between 

To work mankind' s disaster : 
Upon its rugged back it bore 
Who bade it chafe and foam the more, 
Drown deep or dash against the sky 
The heart that could not fear to die, 

75 



76 THE PIRATE'S DARLINGS. 

"But now that heart hath nursed to life 

Blossoms so sweet and tender, 
The ridden deep awakes to strife 

And sends unto the sender 
Defiance back, and, like the wolf. 
Yawns wide and wider to engulf 
The babes of one who ne'er before 
Was weak enougli to long for shore." 

The thunder rolled like angry beast. 

And dragon-like it lightened ; 
The billows bellowed for their feast ; 

The pirate's babes grew frightened, 
The ship was struck, and soon on fire, — 
The children clung unto their sire. 
And now they all together sleep 
In the dai'k silence of the deep. 



LOVE-HAUNTED. 

A SPIRIT liauiits me ever. Wliile 
I write it stands before me. There 
Melts tlie bland sweetness of its smile : 

The snnshine of its golden hair 
Floats ronnd it like a giorj. Love, 

Like a celestial atmosphere, 
Broods softly as the holy dove 
Upon its bosom raptnronsly dear. 

What is the si)irit ^ Can it be 

An angel haunts me '. Though as fair. 
Yet, mignon, 'tis thyself I see, 

Not only here, but everywhere : ■ 
Oh, dear delight ! we cannot part 

For ever present to my sight 
I see thee imaged in my heart 

Wrapped in the halo of thy hair of light. 



LOVE-SCATHED. 

CURSE the Fate that severed lis I 
That tore our hearts asunder ! 
Mine is shivered like a branch 
Rent by the iire of thunder ! 
Gather the slivers one by one. 

And cause the branch to flourish, 
Then this heart shall cease to bleed, 
And hopes of pleasure nourish. 

Blame thee ( No ! The greatest lies 

Do most the truth resemble ; 
Weak and base to prove thy love, 

Seemed Heaven to dissemble : 
Like a man deprived of strength 

Some frightful torture dreaming — 
If I am, I know as well 

I am not like my seeming. 



LOVE SCATHED. 79 

Scathless from the bolt art thou, 

Which forced us thus to sever : 
Broken — like a vestal' s vow — 

My soul is lost forever ; 
Thine may cling, unite and grow — 

Ay ; with another' s mingle ; 
Mine eternally remains 

Cold, ruined, void and single % 



THE ROSEBUD OF THE HEATH. 

(after GOETHE.) 

A BOY spied Rosebud as slie grew 
Upon lier native heath, 
And, like a hungry bee, he flew, 
The morning beauties of each hue 
Into his eager soul he drew, 

And drank and drank her breath : 
Rosebud, Rosebud, Rosebud red 
Rosebud on the heath. 

With joy he shouted " I must wring 
The Rosebud of the heath r' 

The Rosebud answered, "Then Til sting 

To punish your bold Angering, 

And to your memory ever cling 

And make you weep my death !" 
Rosebud, Rosebud, Rosebud I'ed 
Rosebud of the heath. 

80 



THE ROSEBUD OF THE HEATH 81 

The heartless, heedless urchin wrung 

The Rosebud off the heath ; 
The Rosebud blanched and blushed and stung 
''Woe!'' and "Alas!" m vam she sung, 
And, weeping, to his tunic hung ; 

And sighed herself to deatli^ — 
While he played, poor Rosebud red 

Sighed herself to death. 



DOUBLE FAITH. 

"TTTHY, star of love, my life bereave 
^ ^ Of the cliill midnight of the heart ? 

Why, tempting Heaven, one moment leave 
Thy strict and jealous gates apart '( 

Wliy grant my soul such glimpse of bliss, 

Then plunge it into the abyss 'i 

What art our bands so softly wove. 

That they might be more quickly riven? 

Was I clasped to thy breast of love 
To be from that to madness driven ? 

In heaven and ra^^ture lulled asleep 

To wake with horror in the deep ? 

The rose drinks bloom but from the sun, 

And love to love must turn forever ; 
Hadst thou not looked to more than one 

82 



DOUBLE FAITH. 83 

Not Death had power our hearts to sever : 
But double faith the loving shun — 
The noble deem it worse than none. 

Thy heart against mine own hath beat ; 

Oh, had it learned to beat as true ! 
Thy breath with mine hath mingled sweet ; 

Oh, had our spirits mingled too ! 
I would have taught thy soul that truth 
Gives love eternal joy and youth. 



THE I)i:8KY BEAUTY. 

O TRANCtE beauty ! neither dark nor fair, 
^■^ Natnre disowns tliy nameless brown, 
Thy mantling cheek, thy midnight hair, 
As Europe's blnsh and Afric's frown. 

Thy beauty is a startling thing 

Like music in a desert lone, 
Or bird of bright but foreign wang 

The land before hath never known. 

E'en AMc's daughters own thee not ; 

Proud Europe' s daughters th(^e disclaim ; 
How cruelly unjust thy lot, 

Incarnate loveliness of shame ! 

I note it in the laugh and sigh 

Breaking so wildly from thy lips ; 

And in thy sad and lustrous eye 

Where lightning suffers soft eclipse. 

84 



THE D USK V BEA UTY. 85 

For Afric's sons too delicate, — 

For Europe's cursed witli Afric's stain, — 
Branded, tliougli guiltless of thy fate, 

Worse tlian tlie oldest murderei* Cain. 

Oh, neither be too ])roud noi* meek. 
Nor take thy love to venal niait. 

For Europe's rose is on thy cheek 
And Afric's sun within thy heart I 

AVhat hope is thine i the brightest — this^ — 
Although thou canst not change tliy skin ; 

Thou still mayst win eternal bliss. 
And pure as angel be within. 

For thine is an immortal soul 

And Christ is thine wherein to trust ; 

Let Heaven be thy spirit's goal, 
For dust of any hue is — dust. 



THE FOOD OF LOVE. 

(after SHAKESPEARE.) 

I¥ music be tlie food of love, 
Of passion s all absorbing sweep, 
In wliicli I breatlie and live and move 

As naiad in the tropic deep, — 
Play on and give me sncli excess 
That if possession may not bless, 
This burning tenderness or I 
May of the luscious surfeit die, — 
Die of love's completeness. 

That strain again ! was it from Death '( 

It had a tender dying fall 
As if the spirit's parting breath 

Answered a hovering angel's call : 
It came as gently o' er ni}^ ear 
As falls a doting mother's tear, 
Or breathes the South that northward sets 
Upon a bank of violets, 

Stealing and giving sweetness. 

86 



WAYWARD LEE. 

A RT thou the thing tliou seemest, 
^-^ Light as Siiiniiiei' ail'. 
Wild as the dream thou dreainest 

False as thou art fair t 
Oh, no, no, no, it cannot be 
Plain as it seemeth, wilful Lee h 

Thou hast a soul of kindness 

Kindly as the sun, 
But then thy love is blindness. 

Loving every one ; 
At least tlie love thou gavest m(^, 
Thou grantest many, wanton Lee. 

Tlie stei'nest heart will soften 
When by love possessed ; 

My heart is love and often 
Melted on thy breast 

In sweet affection — as for thee, 

Thou art without one, wicked Lee. 

87 



88 WAYWARD LEE. 

And yet the God above thee, 
Gave thee once a heart ; 

I, too, gave mine to love thee, 
Shameless as thou art ; 

I might have cast it in the sea. 

For less the folly, winsome Lee ! 



LOYE AND WTNPl 

A]NA(^KEONTIC. 

/^^H, give me love and wine and I 
^-^ Will be as happy as a boy ; 
Without ihem joy cannot ])ut die, — 
With them there is no death to joy ; 
Witlioirt them both 
T would be loth 
To live and be earth's mightiest king. 

Oh, what were rank or power or wealth 
With neither love nor wine to cheer ? 
Even that sweet possession, health. 
Were but a desert, bare and drear, 
Without the two 
Who rapture woo 
And teach tlie saddest heart to sing. 

89 



90 LOVE AND WINE. 

Then fill the cup with ivd wine up, 

Pi'oni which my love her nectai' sips, 
For with the gods I would not sup, 
Without pure wine and woman's lips ! 
Without them ]>otli 
Life is a sh)th. 
But with them swift as angels wing. 

The queen of souls is love, true love, 

And pure wine is the king of mirth ; 
They form the bliss of Heaven above, 
And make a paradise of earth ; 
Then fill the cup 
With pure wine up 
And render life perpetual spring. 



THY STAR. 



A SEllENADE. 



r M PIE nig] it is still as ypudei- oi-l), 
-^ B(4iiiid tlie silver cloud ; 
Sweet thoughts of thee my soul absoi'b. 

For thee uiy heait b(^ats loud ; 
And so I take my light guitar 

And sing thy charms diviiie 
To that sweet, soft and brilliant star 

Whose glance resembles thine. 



That star is bright in kindly night 

But hides from golden day ; 
Thy beauty l^rightens i]i the light 

And shames Apollo's ray : 
In gloom with glories tliickly sown, 

I sing thy stai- and thee, 
For night and dsiy have never shown 

Aught half so deai* to me. 

91 



THE A^TOLET. 

y GATHERED by tlic woodside 
-^ A floral coronet 
Upon the brow of Coia 

111 ]()\'e and sport to set, 
But deeper in the forest 

Where gloom and grandeur met 
I ' spied a perfect beauty, 

A lovely violet. 

There was a queenly richness 

In ever}^ glowing hue 
Of liei' empurj)led vesture 

Of deep and loving blue : 
Hei- fond and soul-like fragrance, 

Which pierced the senses through, 
Brought Heaven' s balm and rapture 

To fancy' s touch and view. 

92 



THE VIOLET. 93 

Altliough the only flower 

Whicli nestled in tliat Uiii-, 
T stooped to pluek lier sweetnt^ss 

To deck my dai'linii,'s liaii', 
But thinking of a bosom 

AVhicli wouhl 1)e dark and bare 
If I'obbed of one soh^ ti'easure, 

I left her l)h)oinin<> there. 



BOLD QUESTIONS. 

BY gazing in tliiiK^ (yes of blue 
Shall I at last divine 
Why they keep H(^aven's pinvst hue 

And yet so falsely shine { 
Will fate disclose,— to seiises drowned 

In honeyed lapture, — why 
It lets thy tongue like seiaph's sound 
Yet like tlu^ lie ^ 



LOVERS INFATILA.TION. 

SONG. 

r 1 1H0U wandering star of dangerous ray, 
-^ Thou siren of my will ; 
Bright but to lead my soul astray 
And only sweet to kill ! 

Teach me the secret of the art 
Whicli binds my soul to thee, 

Tliat I may more than strive to part 
From thy dear slavery. 

Thou little, winning, wilful one, 

I many times forswore ; 
But could not e'en for Heaven shun 

And loved yet moi'(^ and more ! 

Once more to burst thy silken chain 
With lieart and soul I'll try, 

But if I find my effort vani, 
What can I do but die '\ 

94 



LEFT. 

TTERE lies the mother, 
-* — ^ Stretched on her bier. 
Feeling no sorrow, 

Knowing no feai- ; 
There lies her baby, 

Smiling in sleep : 
Which is the happier ( 

Which should we weep i 

She has encounter(^d 

Death to all carets ; 
He has just entered 

Life and its snares : 
Peace is her portion 

Earth cannot show : 
Why did the angels 

Leave him below ( 

95 



LOA F8 EXCHAJSGE. 

FOK MUSIC. 

nr GAVE my heart to tliec, p(4, 
-^ A heart botli wai-m and true ; 
Then give tliy heart to me, pet, 
Wliat canst thou want with two 'i 
I would not bereave 
But onl}^ relieve 
Thy bosom's exeess. 

And fear not the exchange, sw^eet ; 

The heait that I i-esign 
From one will nevei' range, sweet. 
To others as would thine. 
I would not innnure 
But only make sui'e 
Of something to bless. 

96 



THE OREAD. 

T^AY and niglit I lianiit this iiiouiitaiii, 
-^^ Climbing and descending, 

Diinking at its pnrest fountain, 

AVitli its spirit blending, 
For I am its Oread : 
Weeks and montlis deep iji the wood 
On its mystery I brood, 

Grown prophetically sad. 
For I know 
That wliile its head to heaven aspires. 
Its feet are planted in the fii'es 
Miles below. 

While the awe of night still hushes 

Springtide's warbled wooing,— 
When the star-eyed morn first blushes 
At the sun' s pursuing, 
On the mountain' s peak I stand 
Drinking in my vision' s range 
Fresh sublimity from change 

0' er the ocean, sky and land, 



98 THE OREAD. 

AVliicli Tiuroll 
From darkness into life and light 
And fill with Deity my sight, 

Heart and sonl. 

Every star j^nts ont his taper 

As the snn a2)proaches ; 
On the East a Instrous vapor 

Steadily encroaches, — 
For a god is rismg fast : 
Crimson vistas fold on fold, — 
As he mounts his throne of gold 
And Anrora hurries past, — 

Burn like ire : 
Earth — Ocean wakes,— like maid from trance, 
Beneath a lover s eyes that glance 

Liquid fire. 

Dropping, — like the lark from ether. 

Tired of morning' s splendors, 
Homeward through the clouds beneath her, 
AVhere tlie Earth engenders, 
From lier bosom' s sweetest sweet 
Flowers which ope on me their eyes, 
< Flushed with sisterly surprise 
Kindred purity to greet, 



THE OREAD. 99 

With tlieir breatli 
And soul of Natuiv, I refine 
To di^licacy too divine 

E'en for deatli. 

NeVi- a songster lias a meaning 

* Warbled near my arbor, ~ 
Ne'er a life this mountain gleaning 
Nestles in its harbor 
That I do not understand ; 
At my fountain's mossy seat 
Gold fish come to kiss my feet ; 

E' en the serpent' s eyes look bland 
As I pass, 
And T on eartli have not a foe 
But one that still sleeps far below,— 
Fire, alas 1 

Has not life a single portal 

Leading not to error f 
Is it true that every mortal 

Has like me a terror 
Robbing her of perfect bliss '. 
Caves fantastic deep I pierce 
Whcn-e fire Titans slumber tierce ; 

With alternate groan and hiss 



100 THE OREAD. 

They foretell 
Their day to rise and burst and burn 
And my sweet mountain Eden turn 

Into hell. 

(lold and silver mines exhaustless, 

Gems, with darkness sleex)inu- 
III eartli's bosom, matchless, costless, 

Rayless beauty keeping, 
I would give to save my home : 
Prayer is breath and fate despair : 
Sad I roam the starlight air, 

■Neath the sun-encrusted dome. 

Asking Night 
If her far million worlds possess 
A single liome of happiness 

Free from blight. 



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